Aimless
by butterflie
Summary: Always bring a map. [Tidus, Rikku, ficlet]


Disclaimer: Final Fantasy X belongs to Squaresoft. 

Author's Notes: Written for the 50episodes comm at livejournal. A bit of Tidus/Rikku if you squint. 

Aimless  
by: butterflie 

"We _are_!" 

"We are _not_!" 

"Tidus, we've been wandering around for _hours_ now!" Rikku whined. 

Tidus shot her an exasperated look. "Well how is that my fault? Besides, I told you, that doesn't mean we're lost!" 

"If we're not lost, then where are we?" 

"We're in the Calm Lands, duh. Where else?" 

"Oooh!" Rikku glared at him, coming to a stop and putting her hands on her hips. "You know what I meant, you big meanie!" She sighed theatrically. "I knew I shouldn't have listened to you. I should have stayed with the others back at camp, where I could now be safe, warm, and content, instead of lost, hungry, and cold!" 

Tidus gave her a glare of his own and continued to walk on. "I told you, Rikku, we're _not_ lost! We just have to keep walking in this direction, and then soon we'll be coming upon the temple..." 

"Tidus, you don't even know if this temple exists, or if it's even really in the Calm Lands!" 

Tidus stopped, turning back towards her as he gave her a confused look. "Of course it exists. I wouldn't have heard about it otherwise, would I?" 

She rolled her eyes. "There's such a thing as rumors, you know." She crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her tongue out at him. "Besides, Spira is a big place. It could be _anywhere_." 

Tidus shook his head. "No way. I heard it clearly. The guy definitely said it was in the Calm Lands." He resumed walking again. 

"Well then where is it then!" Rikku yelled after him. "You said it wasn't more than an hour's walk away and now we've been gone for at least three hours!" 

"I don't know," Tidus said, groaning. "It's not like I brought a map!" 

"Well maybe if you had we wouldn't be lost now! This is all your fault," Rikku said, pouting. 

"My fault? You're the one who trusted a guy not from Spira to lead you around! You know I'm not from here!" 

"You said you knew where you were going!" 

"And you believed me?!" 

Behind him, Rikku suddenly let out a shriek, and Tidus whirled around to see her being attacked by yet another Coeurl. "Dammit!" he yelled. 

He quickly pulled out his sword and jumped forwards, aiming for the underside of the fiend as he swung. It merely grazed the Coeurl, but the small scratch was enough of a distraction to bring the fiend's focus on him, giving Rikku time to get back on her feet and begin an attack of her own. Between the two of them, it didn't take long to make short work of the thing. 

They sank to the grass after the battle was over, pyreflies swirling around them before drifting off into the sky. Tidus looked over at Rikku, noticing the claw marks on both of her arms where the Coeurl had swiped at her. He fumbled at the pouch on his side, withdrawing a potion and handing it over to her. 

"Thanks," she mumbled, taking it from him and unscrewing the cap. She dipped her fingers in and spread some of the cool liquid over her the wounds on her arms before drinking the rest. Tidus laughed at the sour face she made. Auron was always forcing potions upon him back in Zanarkand, so he'd gotten used to the bitter taste years ago. 

Rikku handed the empty bottle back to him. He frowned at her, but screwed the lid back on and put it in his pouch anyways. 

"We _are_ lost," Rikku said a few minutes later when she felt she'd finally sufficiently caught her breath enough to speak regularly. 

Tidus looked away, wanting to deny it some more, but knowing he really couldn't. 

"Fine," he grudgingly admitted after a bit of silence. "You're right, we're lost. I should have brought a map and I didn't. I screwed up." 

"It's not all your fault," she said, tentatively patting him on the arm in a small gesture of reassurance. "You're right too, I should have known better than to expect you to really know your way around here." She giggled a bit. "If I had any doubts before, I definitely don't now." 

He sighed. "Huh... What do we do now?" 

"Wait for the others to come find us, maybe?" She gave a small shrug. 

Tidus looked at the sky, which was rapidly darkening from orange and red to purple and black. "It's almost dark. Think they'll _want_ to find us?" 

"They'd better!" Rikku grumbled. "Though we could just wait til morning to find our way back..." 

"Won't we just get more lost?" 

"Maybe. But if they don't come after us, what other choice do we have?" She gestured to the wide, open fields around them. "You wanna spend the rest of your life here? We'd be dead within a week, if the fiends didn't kill us first." 

"No, I guess not..." he muttered. 

They were both silent for a bit before Tidus spoke again. "I just really wanted to find that temple... It sounded so cool, and I thought maybe there could be another aeon in there, and that it could help Yuna if she prayed to it," he said. "But no one was interested in it, or even wanted to come. _You_ wouldn't have come if I hadn't insisted on going alone." He looked at her sheepishly. "I guess you guys were all right." 

"Tidus..." Rikku didn't know what to say. 

"No, it's alright. It was a dumb idea anyways." He grinned at her, and moved to sit next to her. He casually slung an arm around her shoulder. "In the morning we'll find our way back to the others, I'll apologize to everyone, and we'll continue on with Yuna's pilgrimage like nothing ever happened. You'll see. Everything will be fine." 

She scooted closer to him, leaning into his side. "It's getting cold," she said softly, choosing to ignore his over-confident assurance. 

"We could try building a fire," he said after a moment's pause. "I think I brought some flint with me..." 

She shook her head. "No. It'll just attract more fiends." 

"Then," he said. "Just stay close to me." 


End file.
